Bart Vrancken

The motivations for using biometrics are diverse and often overlap. However, questions persist, however, about the effectiveness of biometric systems as security or surveillance mechanisms, their usability and manageability, appropriateness in widely varying contexts, social impacts, effects on privacy, and legal and policy implications.

In this workshop, we discuss the future of biometric identification. We will address how technology can overcome existing challenges in biometric data acquisition and verification, and looking at the future of passports and election identification.

American and European security officials speak of an “epidemic” created by a spike in demand from asylum-seekers — and from terrorists like those who carried out the Paris attacks in November 2015, two of whom were carrying counterfeit documents.

Forging documents and trafficking in the forgeries are sometimes pursued as ends in themselves, for profit. But these crimes are often means to other ends, such as terrorism, the smuggling of migrants and trafficking in people.

In an age of machine-readable passports, facial-recognition software and iris scanning, it can take a high level of skill to forge documents convincingly. But the rewards make this crime a particular draw for criminals seeking to profit in other crime areas. Stopping the networks involved and seizing their output can thus disrupt a range of other crimes.

Your workshop leader:

Bart Vrancken, Head of the service eID, Belgium

Bart Vrancken has been working as a software engineer in several organisations before joining Bell Labs in 2009 as Expert Research Engineer. His research focus was on security, content distribution and context-related augmented reality. In 2011, he joined the National Registry in the Federal Public Service Home Affairs with a special focus on modernising the organisation. In September 2013, he became the head of the service eID where he drives the evolution of the Belgian eCards.

IQPC WELCOME REMARKS

James Fox, Conference Producer, Defence IQ

THE FUTURE OF ELECTRONIC IDENTIFICATION IN BELGIUM

·The context for improving personal identification in Belgium

·What is the eID project?

·Identification at different authorities

·Signing electronic documents

·Securely logging in to online public services

Bart Vrancken, Head of the service eID, Belgium

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS: IDENTIFICATION FORGERY

·What are the main challenges in identifying forged documents?

·Are there loopholes in biometric identification?

·How to process passport-less travels and migrants?

10:30 COFFEE AND NETWORKING

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONS: THE ELECTRONIC PASSPORT IN 2018 AND BEYOND

·Why paper still matters in 2018

·Physical updates to the passport and data pages

·What type of biometrics is currently the most effective way of identifying passengers?

·Encouraging enrolment for biometric projects

12:30 CHAIRMAN’S CLOSING REMARKS

Check out the incredible speaker line-up to see who will be joining Bart.